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William  Henry  Br 


An  Historical  Address 
livered  at   a    service 
memorial  of  St.    Andre    ! 
Church,    Scituate 

September  3,    A.    .    1 


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A    MEMORIAL 


ST.    ANDREW'S    CHURCH 


SC ITUATE,    MASSAC  HUSETTS 


A.D.  IJ30  —  1810 


X 


Boston 

A.    WILLIAMS    AND     CO. 
©lo  Corner  Bookstore 


C&cp  fiball  inherit  tbc  lanto  foreber,  tlje  brancb  of  ^Hp  planting;, 
tljc  tuodt  of  ;fflp  I;antus,  tljat  3f  ma?  6c  alortffdJ." 

ISA.    Ix.    21. 


AN 

HISTORICAL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  AT  A  SERVICE  MEMORIAL  OF 

ST.  ANDREW'S   CHURCH,  SCITUATE 
September  j,  A.D.  1882 


BY    THE    MINISTER    OF    THE    CHURCH    (WHICH,    IN     l8ll,    BECAME 
ST.   ANDREW'S,    HANOVER) 

THE  REVEREND  WILLIAM  HENRY  BROOKS,  S.T.D. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST 


BOSTON 

A.    WILLIAMS    &    CO. 

©lb  Corner  Bookstore 

1882 


Franklin  Press; 
Rani,  Avery,  &■*  Company, 

i-7  Fra?iklin  Street, 
Boston. 


PREFATORY    NOTE. 


ORDER  OF  SERVICES. 

Part  I. 

Sentence.     "  I  heard  a  voice,"  etc.  (Rev.  xiv.  13). 

Hymn  188.     "  Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above." 

Nicene  Creed. 

First  Prayer  est  Burial  Office.    "  Almighty  God,  with  whom," 

etc. 
Collects  for  All-Saints'  Day,  and  Easter-Even. 
"The  Peace  of  God,"  etc. 

Part  M. 

Sentence.    "The  Lord  is  in  His  holy  temple,"  etc.  (Hab.  ii.  20) . 
Collects  for  13TH  Sunday  after  Trinity,  and  St.  Andrew's 

Day,  followed  by  "  Direct  us,"  etc.,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer, 

in  Office  of  Institution. 
"The  Grace  of  our  Lord,"  etc. 
Hymn  202.     "  The  Church's  one  foundation." 
Lesson.     Isa.  liv. 

Hymn  191.     "I  love  Thy  kingdom,  Lord." 
Historical  Address. 


Singing  of  the  Gloria  Patri.     "  Praise  God,  from  whom  all 

blessings  flow,"  etc. 
Hymn  169.     "  Saviour,  again  to  Thy  dear  name  we  raise." 
Collect.     "  O  Almighty  God,"  etc.,  in  Office  of  Institution. 
"The  God  of  Peace,"  etc.,  in  Office  of  Institution. 


The  Service  was  held  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
Thirteenth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  on  the  site  of  the  Church- 
edifice  opened  for  Divine  Worship,  Oct.  n,  A.D.  1731. 

The  weather  could  not  have  been  more  favorable,  the  rays 
of  the  descending  sun  being  tempered  by  a  refreshing  breeze. 

The  beautiful  view  of  woods,  meadows,  and  the  village  of 
Hanover  (about  a  mile  distant),  with  the  spire,  surmounted 
with  the  symbol  of  redemption,  of  the  second  Church-edifice 
of  the  Parish,  added  greatly  to  the  pleasant  features  of  the 
occasion.  The  attendance  was  large,  numbering  several  hun- 
dreds of  people. 

The  graves  of  the  two  ministers,  Thompson  and  Wheeler, 
with  those  of  their  wives,  were,  with  great  taste,  entirely 
covered  with  ferns  and  golden-rod.  Upon  those  of  the  former, 
were  evergreen  crosses  and  wreaths,  and,  on  those  of  the  latter, 
wreaths  of  the  same  material. 

The  First  Part  of  the  Services  was  held .  near  these  graves, 
and  was  conducted  by  the  Minister  of  the  Parish,  at  whose  side 
stood  one  of  the  Church-Wardens,  L.  C.  Waterman,  Esq.  (the 
other,  Mr.  Warren  Wright,  being  absent  on  account  of  illness)  ; 
a  venerable  parishioner,  Mr.  Luther  Howland,  almost  eighty- 
six  years  old,  who  had  worshipped  in  the  old  Church,  and  been 
a  pupil  in  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wheeler's  day-school ;  and  the  Rev. 


5 

Henry  W.  Nelson,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Geneva,  N.Y., 
whose  frequent  ministrations  in  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Hanover, 
are  highly  valued. 

The  presence  of  Congregational,  Baptist,  and  Methodist 
Clergymen,  was  a  very  gratifying  incident  in  the  Commemora- 
tion Sendee. 

The  Second  Part  of  the  Services  was  held  on  a  spot,  about 
the  centre  of  the  site  of  the  old  Church. 

In  front  of  the  Reading-Desk  was  a  large  St.  Andrew's  cross, 
richly  trimmed  with  evergreen,  resting  on  a  bed  of  ferns. 


HISTORICAL  ADDRESS. 


We  are  gathered  together  here  on  the  site  of 
our  old  family  home.  Nearly  one  hundred  and 
fifty-one  years  ago,  when,  in  our  civil  relations,  we 
were  part  of  a  Colony  of  Great  Britain,  and,  in 
our  ecclesiastical  relations,  a  plantation  of  the 
Church  of  England,  forming  a  part  of  the  Dio- 
cese of  the  Bishop  of  London,  the  Church,  which 
is  the  Mother  of  us  all,  having  erected  upon  this 
spot  a  house  for  the  public  worship  of  Almighty 
God,  ascended  into  what  thus  became  the  hill  of 
the  Lord,  and  took  possession  of  the  house  in 
His  name. 

On  that  occasion  there  was  no  consecration  of 
the  Church  by  a  Bishop;  for  there  was  not  one 
within  the  limits  of  what  are  now  the  United 
States  of  America  until  Nov.  14,  1784,  when 
Samuel  Seabury  was  consecrated,  by  three  Bish- 
ops in  the  Scottish  Church,  as  Bishop  of  Con- 
necticut. 

It  was  not  until  May  7,  1797,  that  Massachu- 
setts  had   a   Bishop   of  her  own,  when   Edward 


Bass,  in  early  life  a  licensed  Congregational 
preacher,  was  ordained  to  that  office,  by  three 
Bishops  in  the  American  Church.  Although  this 
taking  possession  of  the  place  where  God's  holy 
Word  was  to  be  read,  His  holy  Sacraments  cele- 
brated, sacrifices  of  prayer  and  thanksgiving  to 
His  glorious  Majesty  offered,  His  people  blessed 
in  His  Name,  and  all  other  holy  offices  per- 
formed, was  not  marked,  as  it  would  be  now, 
—  unless  the  building  and  the  ground  on  which 
it  was  placed  were  not  fully  paid  for,  and  were 
not  free  from  lien  or  other  encumbrance, —  by 
the  use  of  the  sublime  Form  of  Consecration  of 
a  Church  by  one  belonging  to  the  highest  order 
of  Ministers,  it  was  marked  by  the  use  of  liturgi- 
cal provisions,  which  for  more  than  a  century 
have  been  unknown  in  the  services  of  the  Church 
in  these  States:  "  A  Prayer  for  the  King's  Maj- 
esty," "  A  Prayer  for  the  Royal  Family,"  and,  in 
the  Litany,  three  suffrages  for  the  King,  and 
one  suffrage  for  the  Royal  Family  (at  that  time 
George  the  Second  being  King,  his  reign  com- 
mencing June  ii,  1727,  and  continuing  thirty- 
four  years). 

On  Wednesday,  July  28,  1725,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Timothy  Cutler,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Boston, 
at  the  request  of  several  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Town  of  Scituate,  conducted  Divine  Service  ac- 
cording to  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  preached  in  the    North    Meeting- House    in 


Scituate,  near  the  Harbor ;  the  House  standing 
almost  opposite  the  place  where  the  Hon.  George 
Lunt,  the  thorough  scholar  and  true  poet,  now 
resides.  Upwards  of  ninety  persons  were  present 
at  this  service. 

Although  Dr.  Cutler,  in  pursuance  of  the  duty 
of  his  office,  conducted  this  service  upon  invita- 
tion, and  in  a  very  quiet  and  inoffensive  manner, 
his  action  was  most  uncharitably  represented  in 
"The  Boston  News-Letter,"  No.  1725,  as  "  shew- 
ing the  doctor's  fervent  zeal  and  indefatigable 
pains  to  make  proselytes  to  the  cause,  and  promote 

CEREMONIES  BY  DESTROYING  SUBSTANTIALS  IN  RELI- 
GION." How  narrow,  how  censorious,  how  un- 
lovely, appears  the  spirit  which  found  expression 
in  these  words,  when  contrasted  with  the  spirit 
which  moved  the  blessed  Apostle  Saint  Paul, 
whose  large  heart  throbbed  with  great  pulses  of 
joy  whenever,  wherever,  and  by  whomsoever,  the 
gospel  of  Christ  was  preached,  even  when  it  was 
preached  in  a  temper,  and  from  motives  which 
were  blameworthy,  as  indicated  by  his  declaration 
to  the  saints  in  Christ  Jesus  which  were  at  Phi- 
lippi :  "  Some,  indeed,  ,  preach  Christ,  even  of 
envy  and  strife ;  and  some,  also,  of  good  will. 
The  one  preach  Christ  of  contention,  not  sin- 
cerely, supposing  to  add  affliction  to  my  bonds  ; 
but  the  other  of  love,  knowing  that  I  am  set  for 
the  defence  of  the  gospel. 

"What     then?     notwithstanding,     every    way, 


IO 

whether  in  pretence,  or  in  truth,  Christ  is  preached ; 
and  I  therein  do  rejoice,  yea,  and  zvill  rejoice" 
How  forcible  are  the  right  words  of  Archbishop 
Bramhall,  "  It  is  charity  to  think  well  of  our 
neighbors,  and  good  divinity  to  look  well  to  our- 
selves " ! 

Dr.  Cutler  was  ordained  and  installed  Pastor  of 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Stratford,  Conn.,  on 
the  nth  of  January,  1710. 

He  had  a  very  high  reputation  as  a  preacher, 
and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  influential 
clergymen  in  the  Colony.  In  17 19  he  became 
Rector  of  Yale  College. 

In  1722,  in  consequence  of  his  doubts  concern- 
ing "  the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordination  in 
opposition  to  Episcopal,"  he  was  excused  from  all 
further  service  as  Rector  of  the  Colleg-e. 

At  that  time  there  was  not  one  Episcopal 
Church,  and  but  few  Episcopal  families,  in  Con- 
necticut. 

In  November  of  that  year  (1722)  he  sailed  from 
Boston  to  England,  and,  in  March  of  the  following 
year  (1723),  was  ordained  both  Deacon  and  Priest 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Greene,  Bishop  of 
Norwich. 

The  university  at  Oxford  and  that  at  Cambridge 
both  honored  him  with  the  decree  of  Doctor  of 
EKvinity. 

In  November  of  that  year  (1723),  returning  to 
Boston,  he  began  his  labors  as  a  Missionary  of  the 


II 


Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  For- 
eign Parts,  in  Christ  Church,  which  had  just  been 
established  in  that  city. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  ministry  there,  his  con- 
o-regation  usually  consisted  of  about  four  hun- 
dred ;  but  it  gradually  increased  to  nearly  double 
that  number. 

He  continued  in  the  diligent  discharge  of  his 
ministerial  duties    until  he  was  far  advanced  in 

life. 

He  seems  to  have  had  little  to  do  with  the  con- 
troversies of  his  time,  though  he  always  showed 
himself  a  consistent  and  earnest  Churchman. 

About  the  year  1756,  his  labors  were  interrupted 
by  an  attack  of  illness,  from  which  he  never  recov- 
ered. 

"After  he  had  served  his  own  generation  by  the 
will  of  God,"  in  August,  1765,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
two  years,  he  "  fell  on  sleep,  and  was  laid  unto  his 
fathers."  Endued  with  singular  gifts,  —  an  excel- 
lent linguist;  a  good  logician,  geographer,  and 
historian ;  a  man  of  extensive  reading  in  the  aca- 
demic sciences,  divinity,  and  ecclesiastical  history  ; 
great  in  the  philosophy  and  metaphysics  and 
ethics  of  his  day,  —he  had  grace  given  to  him  to 
use  these  manifold  gifts  always  to  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  benefit  of  His  holy  Church.         ^  ^ 

What  was  said  by  Robert  Nelson  of  John  Ket- 
tlewell,  may  truthfully  be  said  of  him  :  "  Learned, 
without  pride;  wise  and  judicious,  without  cun- 


12 


ning ;  he  served  at  the  altar  without  either  covet- 
ousness  or  ambition  ;  he  was  devout,  without 
affectation  ;  sincerely  religious,  without  morose- 
ness ;  courteous  and  affable,  without  flattery  or 
mean  compliances  ;  just,  without  rigor  ;  charitable, 
without  vanity  ;  and  heartily  zealous  for  the  inter- 
est of  religion,  without  faction." 

In  these  short  and  simple  statements  concern- 
ing him  we  must  feel  a  profound  and  lasting  in- 
terest, for  the  reason  that  the  parish  with  which, 
in  the  good  providence  of  God,  we  are  connected, 
and  which  has  been  doing  the  work  of  the  Lord 
for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half,  had  its  origin 
in  the  disinterested  labors  of  this  faithful  servant 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Though  it  has  had 
many  "  instructors  in  Christ,  yet  it  has  not  had 
many  fathers  ;  for  in  Christ  Jesus  he  begot  it 
through  the  Gospel. 

"  Wherefore,  I  beseech  you,  be  ye  followers  of 
him,"  "  even  as  he  also  was  of  Christ."  In  that 
day,  for  which  all  other  days  were  made,  as  the 
spiritual  father  of  this  Parish,  with  joy  and  not 
with  grief  giving  account  of  the  ministry  which  he 
received  in  the  Lord,  surrounded  by  all  those 
who  here  have  been  savingly  born  of  water  and 
of  the  Spirit  into  the  Kingdom  of  God,  who,  in 
a  qualified  sense,  may  be  regarded  as  his  own 
children  in  the  faith,  he  will,  with  feelings  of  hum- 
ble, adoring  gratitude,  present  himself  and  them 
before  the  presence  of  the  Divine  glory  with  ex- 


13 

ceeding  joy,  saying-  to  Him  whom  he  faithfully 
served  in  this  life  in  his  vocation  and  ministry, 
"  Behold  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given 
me. 

Although  his  name  and  work  are  here  not  re- 
corded  in  tables  of  stone  or  metal,  let  not  all-sub- 
duing time  obliterate  the  remembrance  of  them, 
but  grave  them  in  letters,  deep  and  large,  in  the 
fleshly  tables  of  your  hearts,  that  they  may  endure 
forever. 

The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Miller,  S.T.D.,  who,  as  Mis- 
sionary of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  for  Braintree,  entered 
upon  his  ministry  over  that  Church  (now  Christ 
Church,  Ouincy)  Dec.  25,  1727,  at  times  con- 
ducted public  worship  for  the  people  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  Scituate  in  a  private  house,  where 
he  had  as  large  a  congregation  as  the  house  could 
well  contain. 

These  people  erected  a  Church-edifice  on  this 
spot,  known  as  "  Church  Hill,"  now  within  the 
borders  of  the  Town  of  South  Scituate  (set  off  in 
1849  from  the  Town  of  Scituate),  about  a  mile 
from  the  location,  in  the  Town  of  Hanover,  of 
the  present  Church-edifice  (the  second)  of  St. 
Andrew's  Parish. 

It  was  placed  conveniently  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  Churchmen  within  several  of  the 
neighboring  towns,  as  well  as  for  that  of  those  in 
Scituate.     The  Church  was  first  opened  upon  the 


14 

nth  of  October,  1 73 1,  when  Dr.  Miller  conducted 
the  services,  and  baptized  eight  children,  thus 
receiving  them  into  the  congregation  of  Christ's 
flock.  There  were  such  numbers  of  people  pres- 
ent that  some  could  not  get  into  the  Church. 

The  building  was  of  wood,  churchly  in  style, 
had  a  bell-tower  and  a  bell,  and  would  accom- 
modate about  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 

In  1699  the  Town  of  Scituate  ordered  a  piece 
of  land  to  be  appropriated  for  a  Common,  "  sur- 
rounded with  ways;"  etc.  This  was  on  the  south 
side  of  the  hill  where  St.  Andrew's  Church  was 
erected. 

In,  1725  ten  acres  more  were  ordered  to  be 
laid  out  for  a  Burying-Place  and  a  Training- 
Field.  This  was  an  enlargement  of  the  same 
Common. 

On  the  30th  of  the  November  following,  being 
the  Feast  of  St.  Andrew  the  Apostle  (the  Patron 
Saint  of  the  Parish),  Dr.  Miller  officiated  here 
again. 

Although  the  weather  was  very  cold,  and  the 
Church  very  open  (not  being  finished),  the  build- 
ing was  almost  full ;  and  the  people  present,  who 
before  were  unacquainted  with  the  service  of  the 
Church,  seemed  to  be  much  interested  in  and 
pleased  with  it. 

Dr.  Miller  offered,  in  case  the  Honorable  Society 
should  not  think  it  best  to  send  a  Missionary  to 
Scituate,  to  continue  with  all  readiness  to  serve 


i5 

the  people  here,  as  far  as  he  could.  He  was 
the  first  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Braintree  (now 
Ouincy),  and,  after  faithful  and  useful  service  as 
Pastor  of  the  flock  in  that  place  for  more  than 
thirty-five  years,  died  Sept.  n,  1763,  at  the  age 
of  sixty  years. 

When  the  clouds  of  death  gathered  around 
him,  and  the  light  of  Heaven's  eternal  year  began 
to  dawn  upon  his  soul,  doubtless  his  testimony, 
had  any  been  given,  would  have  been  of  the  same 
nature  as  that  given  by  the  saintly  and  sainted 
Bishop  Thomas  Ken,  who  said,  in  his  last  will 
and  testament,  "As  for  my  religion,  I  die  in  the 
Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Faith  professed  by 
the  Whole  Church  before  the  disunion  of  the 
East  and  West. 

"  More  particularly,  I  die  in  the  communion  of 
the  Church  of  England,  as  it  stands  distinguished 
from  Papal  and  Puritan  innovations,  and  as  it 
adheres  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross." 

His  death  was  unkindly  noticed  in  one  of  the 
newspapers,  which  gave  occasion  to  a  heated 
controversy  between  the  Episcopalians  and  the 
Independents. 

He  was  received  into  Holy  Orders  as  Deacon 
at  London,  June  29,  1726,  and  ordained  as  Priest 
by  the  Bishop  of  London,  the  Right  Rev.  Dr. 
Edmund  Gibson,  July  9,  1727. 

In  1747  he  was  honored  by  the  University  of 
Oxford  with  the  decree  of  Doctor  of  Divinitv. 


i6 

Let  us  "  give  thanks  to  God  always  for  him, 
making  mention  of  him  in  our  prayers ;  remem- 
bering without  ceasing  his  work  of  faith,  and 
labor  of  love,  and  patience  of  hope  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

The  Church  in  Scituate  having  petitioned  the 
Honorable  Society  to  send,  as  Missionary  there, 
Mr.  Addington  Davenport,  who  had  just  gone 
to  England  for  Holy  Orders,  the  petition  was 
granted  ;  and  he  became  the  first  resident  Minis- 
ter of  the  Parish.  His  stipend  from  the  Society 
was  sixty  pounds  per  annum. 

He  received  from  the  Society  a  grant  of  books 
for  libraries,  and  of  devotional  books  for  distribu- 
tion among  the  poorer  members  of  his  mission. 

Nov.  10,  1735,  he  states  that  his  services  on  the 
first  and  second  Sundays  after  entering  upon  his 
work  in  Scituate  were  attended  by  large  con- 
gregations, but  that  the  other  religious  teachers 
thereabouts  persuaded  many  who  had  attended 
upon  these  services  that  the  Church  of  England 
could  not  prevail,  without  the  destruction  of  their 
civil  as  well  as  that  of  their  religious  liberty ;  so 
that,  upon  the  first  administration  there,  by  him, 
of  the  Holy  Communion,  there  were  but  three 
recipients. 

The  attempt  to  plant  the  Church  was  ridiculed 
and  bantered,  its  worship  traduced  and  vilified, 
its  discipline  with  acrimony  inveighed  against,  its 
doctrines  disputed  and  condemned  ;  thus  making 


17 

it  a  "  reproach  to  its  neighbors,  a  scorn  and  a  deris- 
ion to  them  that  were  round  about  it." 

It  has  been  truly  said,  in  relation  to  the  Evan- 
eelical  character  of  the  Church  of  England,  —  and 
it  is  equally  true  of  her  daughter,  the  Protestant- 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, who  has  not  departed  from  the  Mother- Church 
in  any  essential  point  of  doctrine,  discipline,  or 
worship,  as  she  declares  in  the  Preface  to  her 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  :  — 

"  The  Gospel  or  Evangelical  Religion,  in  its  pure  elements, 
was  restored  by  the  blessing  of  God  to  England,  and  to  the 
English  race,  by  the  Reformers  of  the  National  Church. 

"  It  is  a  vain  pretence  that  any  must  go  out  of  the  Church 
of  England  to  find  the  Gospel. 

"  Faults  there  may  have  been,  and  there  may  now  be  in  it, 
and  its  governors  may,  at  times,  have  been  specially  faulty ; 
but  where  is  the  Church  without  sin,  that  may  cast  the  first 
stone  ? 

"  We  are  not  called  to  write  an  apology  for  it ;  but  we  know 
well,  and  are  ready  to  bear  witness,  that  in  its  standards  is  found 
the  body  of  Evangelical  doctrine.  .  .  . 

"  All  the  Evangelical  truth  received  in  England  among  Puri- 
tans, Non-Conformists,  or  Dissenters,  can  be  traced  up  the 
line  of  testimony  to  the  original  Protestants  of  that  land. 

"  An  English  Evangelical  Protestant,  going  out  of  this  Church 
into  some  other  to  find  the  Gospel,  denies,  on  his  part,  his  own 
religious  parentage. 

"  No  body  of  Protestants  of  English  descent  can  be  found, 
which  did  not  receive  its  faith  through  the  hands  of  the  fathers 
of  the  Church  of  England. 

"  This  precious  faith  is,  in  that  Church,  the  gold  thread, 
which  cannot  be  separated  without  destruction  of  the  tissue. 


i8 


"  It  is  the  marrow,  which  cannot  be  taken  out  till  you  have 
gone  into  the  very  middle  of  the  bone." 

How  much  better  it  would  have  been  for  those 
who    endeavored   to   prevent  the    planting   of  a 
branch  of  the  Church  of  England  here,  to  have 
refrained  from  these  Churchmen,  and  to  have  let 
them   alone :   for  if  their  counsel,  or  their  work, 
originated  with  men,  they  would  have  come   to 
nought ;   but,  if  they  originated  with  God,   they 
could  not  have  overthrown  them,  lest,  haply,  they 
should  have  been  found  even  fighting  against  God. 
1  The  Druses  and  Maronites  of  Mount  Lebanon 
exterminate  rather  than  convert  their  enemies  in 
faith,  because  of  a  belief  that  their  heaven  is  a 
small  place,  which  it  would  not  be  well  to  over- 
crowd." 

Is  there  any  reason  why  we  should  forbid  any 
who  are  doing  the  Master's  work  in  the  Master's 
name,  because  they  follow  not  with  us  ?  for  are 
not  those  that  are  not  against  Christ  on  His  part  ? 

Why  should  those  who  profess  and  call  them- 
selves Christians,  instead  of  fighting  against  sin 
the  world,  and  the  devil,  and  these  three  only' 
ever  turn  their  wounding  and  destroying  weapons 
against  any  who  are  the  friends  of  Christ,  because 
they  company  not  with  them,  — 

"  Dealing  damnation  round  the  land 
On  each  they  deem  their  foe  "  ? 


19 

Is  there  not  abundant  room  for  all  in  the  Father's 
house  on  high  ? 

It  was  nobly  said,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  "  Against  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  I  can 
lift  up  the  spear  with  good  will ;  but  with  the 
friends  of  Jesus  Christ  I  cannot  find  it  in  my 
heart  to  enter  into  controversy." 

Why  not  rather  labor  to  allure  to  brighter 
worlds,  by  leading  into  the  way  of  truth,  than  to 
exterminate  those  thought  to  be  walking  in  error  ? 

Every  true  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
should  be  regarded  and  treated  as  a  friend  and  a 
brother. 

Men  should  remember  that  it  is  as  true  in  the 
spiritual  as  in  the  natural  world,  "  that  the  moun- 
tains must  be  of  different  outlines  and  of  varying 
hues  ;  but  it  is  the  one  light  of  heaven  which 
streams  upon  their  uplifted  brows." 

May  the  Lord  mercifully  grant  unto  us  such  a 
measure  of  His  grace  as  may  enable  us  to  say 
truthfully,  with  the  seraphic  Bishop  Ken,  "  I  love 
God  above  all  things  with  my  whole  heart  and 
soul ;  next  to  Him,  all  good  men  and  women  in 
the  world,  because  they  bear  His  image." 

Mr.  Davenport  —  instead  of  entering  into  pub- 
lic controversy  with  those  who  were  "  grieved  ex- 
ceedingly that  there  was  come  a  man  to  seek  the 
welfare  of  the  children  of  Israel,"-  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Perfect  Exemplar,  "who,  when 
He  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again  ;  when  He  suf- 


20 


feed,  threatened  not ;  bnt  committed  Himself  to 
Him  that  judge*  righteously  "-went  quietly  on 
hisappo .nted  way,  inculcating  the  fundamental 
duties   of  Christianity,  taking  every  opportunity 

;:;~«oob™tethec„»no%tlM: 

The  Church  people  were  compelled  bylaw  to 
pay  public  taxes  for  the  support  of  non-Episcopal 
worship,  or  to  suffer  imprisonment,  as  di/tworf 
the  Church-Wardens,  who,  for  not  paying  their 
rate  towards  the  Congregational  Meeting-House 

MisSr1"  ^  °f  the  tOWnS  fa  the  &ta 

Mission),  were  put  in  prison. 

One  of  the  Church-Wardens,  on  his  way  to 
prison  for  non-payment  of  this  tax,  was  delivered 
by  the  constable's  violent  wresting  of  his  money 
from  him.  One  of  the  Communicants,  for  not 
paymg  his  rate  towards  the  support  of  the  non- 
Episcopal  Minister  in  MarshfieH  (a  neighboring 

Tvi:trought  {ii sight  °f  the  ^ b— p"d 

Se^irs  a  gentieman-  wh° iaia  d°- 

thJ'chlt ing  ^ th;, hard  and  iinJust  tax  «p- 

he  Church  people,  that   the    Church-edifice    in 
'735  remained  unfinished,  and  that  then  it  could 
not  be  said  when  it  would  be  completed  u    ess    n  ' 
end  were  put  to  this  oppression"  which  was  the 

Tl  e  h    >    r^  V°  tHe  gl'0Wth  °f  the  Mission, 
everv  J  ,  Churchmen,-"  troubled  on 

every  s.de,  yet  not  distressed  ;  perp,exed,  but  no" 


21 


in  despair  ;  persecuted,  but  not  forsaken  ;  cast 
down,  but  not  destroyed,"  —  when  the  time  to 
favor  Zion,  yea,  when  the  set  time,  had  come,  had 
the  unspeakable  happiness  of  seeing  the  Church, 
weighted  with  hinderances  and  difficulties,  rise  in 
triumph  over  all  opposition. 

It  prevailed  to  such  a  degree  that  the  prospects 
of  its  future  increase  were  so  full  of  promise,  that, 
two  years  before  this  improved  condition  of  affairs, 
no  one  in  reason  could  have  expected  the  like, 
had  he  been  acquainted  with  the  deep  prejudices 
against  it,  or  the  unwearied  labor  taken  to  confirm 
those  prejudices. 

The  troubles  and  adversities  by  which  the 
Scituate  Churchmen  had  been  oppressed,  by 
God's  good  providence  having  been  brought  to 
nought,  so  that  His  servants  were  not  hurt  by  the 
persecutions  they  had  endured,  made  it  their 
bounden  duty  evermore  to  give  thanks  unto  Him 
in  His  holy  Church  for  His  loving-kindness  to 
them. 

In  all  their  sufferings  here  upon  earth  for  the 
testimony  of  God's  truth,  doubtless  they  were 
supported  and  comforted  by  steadfastly  looking 
up  to  Heaven,  and,  by  faith,  beholding  the  glory 
that  shall  be  revealed. 

In  1735,  Mr.  Davenport  stated  that  he  had 
baptized  fourteen  persons,  that  the  number  of 
Communicants  was  twenty-eight  (eighteen  men 
and  ten  women),  and  that  the  congregation  num- 


22 


bered  about  seventy  or  eighty,  most  of  whom 
belonged  to  Scituatc  and  Hanover;  the  others 
being  scattered  through  the  neighboring  towns 
of  Pembroke,  Marshfield,  Halifax,  and  Bridge- 
water,  at  the  last  of  whicji  places  he  had  pi 
twice  to  a  considerable  congregation. 

That  Mr.  Davenport,  after  his  removal  to 
Boston,  had  the  people  of  his  first  charge  in  his 
mind  and  heart,  is  pleasingly  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  h<-  gave  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  in  trust,  for  the 
iis<-,  forever,  of  the  Minister,  of  St.  Andrew 
Church,  S<  ituate,  seven  acres  of  land,  with  dwell- 
ing-house, barn,  and  other  buildings  thereon  ;  in 
the    instrument    of    I  om  i  I  ing  to    his 

having  been  the    first    resident    Minister  of  the 
Parish. 

The  frame  of  this  dwelling-house  was  blown 
down  early  in  the  present  centur)  ;  and  the  other 
structures   disappeared    very    long    sin  This 

glebe-land  is  that  whose  ap<  I  the  junction 

of  River  and  Common  Si 

"  [*he  village  preai  her's  modest  mansion  "  stood 
near  this  apex,  on  one  side  of  which  now  stands 
the  dwelling  house  erected  by  Mr.  Samuel  <  >. 
Stetson,  and,  on  the  other,  that  by  Mr.  Thomas 

Waterman. 

'I  he   annual    income   derived    from    the    glebe- 
land  alone,  amounted  to  about  twenty  five  dollars, 
meral  Court  of  the  Commonwealth,  by 


23 

a  special  Act  passed  Dec.  14,  18 16,  authorized  the 
sale,  at  public  auction,  of  the  glebe-land. 

On  the  8th  of  February,  18 17,  a  part  of  the 
land  (five  acres  and  sixty-three  rods)  was  sold  to 
Benjamin  Palmer  for  $302.05  ;  and  the  remain- 
der (one  acre  and  seventeen  rods)  was  sold  to 
Elisha  Tolman  for  $161.52,  —  in  all,  with  interest, 
$466.69.  The  proceeds  were  invested  in  stock  of 
the  State  Bank,  Boston  ;  the  income,  in  accordance 
with  the  design  of  the  donor,  to  be  for  the  support 
of  the  Ministers  of  the  Parish  in  perpetuity.  This 
investment  was  added  to  a  "  Fund,"  established 
in  1815,  "for  the  Support  of  Religious  Worship 
in  the  Episcopal  Society  of  St.  Andrew,  in  Han- 
over." 

To  this  Fund  was  also  added  the  sum  of 
$183.82,  derived  from  the  sale  of  the  first  Church- 
edifice,  and  other  sources. 

The  stock  of  this  Fund  was  sold  ;  the  proceeds 
of  which  sale,  together  with  cash  on  hand,  amount- 
ed  to  $1,274.20,  and  were  invested,  with  addi- 
tional gifts  of  51,315.70,  in  the  purchase  of  land, 
and  the  erection  thereon  of  a  Rectory,  the  total 
cost  of  which  was  52,589. 90.  The  Rectory  was 
first  occupied  July  13,  1849. 

The  thoughtful  gift  of  Mr.  Davenport  to  this 
Parish,  in  its  early  days  of  scant)'  numbers  and 
means,  was  the  nucleus  around  which,  a  hundred 
years  later,  an  amount  gathered,  sufficient  to  erect 
a  suitable  dwelling-house  for  the  use  of  his  sue- 


24 


cessors  here  in  the  saered  office  which  he  magni- 
fied and  adorned.  >«*gni 

'Think  upon  him,  our  God,  for  good   accord- 
ing to  all  that  he  did  for  this  people." 

Mr.  Davenport  was  the  son  of  the  Hon    Ad 

dmgton  Davenport,  of  Boston,  and  was  born  May 

10,   1 701       He  was  educated  for  the   law  and 

epresentmg  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  honored 

famd.es  m  the  Province,  a  brilliant  future  opened 

before     ,m  at  his  entrance  upon  his  professton 

Gen    a,     W       "*    **   ^    Ch°Sen    A«°™ey- 
^eneral ;  but  ,t  seems  doubtful  whether  he  ever 

entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  h 

omce.     Havmg  satrsfied  himself  that  "it  was  , 

zt::^i  Epirpacy' in  the  •*£££ 

sense,  was  the  form  of  government  in  the  Church 

Church  of  £T7e  TS-"  he  C°nformed  to  thf 
Cfturch  of  England,  and,  turning  his  thoughts  to 
ward  the  m  nistrv  of  that  ru      1         "uu»nts  to- 
u    1  r     ^   .         y  at  Church,  went  to  Fno- 

land  for  Episcopal  ordination  g" 

terAof"LI5K,W' ?^e  ^T*  Ae  Assistant  Minis- 
ter oi  the  Kmgs  Chapel,  Boston  (the  first  Enisco 

Pal  Church  ln  that  city),  and  May  8,  I74o  became 

verStfoS'  m  T  honored  by  the  Uni- 
Dec  l°xford  ",th  the  degree  of  M.A. 
ec-  »3,   1729,  he  married  Jane,  daughter  of 


25 

Grove     Hurst,     of    Boston.        She   died    before 

1738. 

The  second  resident  Minister  of  the  Parish  was 
the  Rev.  Charles  Brockwell,  a  Missionary  of  the 
Venerable  Society.  The  date  of  his  entrance 
upon  his  duties  here  is  not  known. 

From  the  communications  made  by  both  Mr. 
Brockwell  and  the  Mission  in  Scituate  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Venerable  Society,  it  appears 
that  their  mutual  relations  were  exceedingly  in- 
harmonious and  unpleasant. 

He  left  here  about  September,  1737,  and  went 
to  Salem,  Mass.,  where  he  ministered  most  accept- 
ably and  usefully  to  a  large  congregation. 

Subsequently  he  became  Assistant  Minister  of 
the  King's  Chapel,  Boston. 

The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Thompson  was  the  third 
Missionary  for  Scituate  appointed  by  the  Honora- 
ble Society,  and  received  from  the  Society  a  sti- 
pend of  forty  pounds  per  annum. 

In  1763  he  stated  that  in  Scituate,  Hanover, 
Marshfield,  and  Pembroke  (the  towns  in  his  Mis- 
sion), there  were  seven  hundred  families  of  various 
religious  beliefs,  —  Presbyterians,  Independents, 
Congregationalists,  Anabaptists,  Quakers,  —  and 
some  that  made  no  profession  of  any  form  of 
religion. 

The  number  of  those  families  professing  them- 
selves of  the  Church  of  England  was  fifty,  who, 
after  proper  instruction,  came   into    the   Church 


26 

from  the  different  non-Episcopal  bodies  of  Chris- 
tians. The  number  of  Communicants  was  fifty, 
three  of  whom  were  Indians. 

In  1766  he  stated,  that,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
he  had  preserved  his  people  from  the  murmurs 
and  disorders  that  had  lately  prevailed  in  some 
parts  of  the  Province,  and  that  he  could,  with 
truth  and  justice,  say  that  his  people  were  most 
true  and  faithful  subjects  of  their  most  gracious 
Sovereign,  and  honest  and  sincere  professors  and 
members  of  the  Church  of  England. 

In  1771  he  stated  that  there  had  been  a  hand- 
some addition  made  to  the  east  end  of  St.  An- 
drew's Church,  in  Scituate,  to  accommodate  with 
pews  families  added  to  the  Church. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Thompson  resided  for  about 
thirty  years  on  the  glebe  given  to  the  Parish  by 
Mr.  Davenport ;  but  a  few  years  before  his  death, 
which  occurred  Nov.  20,  1775,  he  purchased  and 
occupied  the  house  on  Mill  Street,  upon  the  site 
of  which  now  stands  the  dwelling-house  of  Mr. 
Israel  Hatch. 

In  a  letter,  dated  Jan.  14,  1776,  of  the  Rev. 
Henry  Caner,  D.D.  (the  Rector  of  the  King's 
Chapel,  Boston),  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Honor- 
able Society,  is  this  statement:  "It  is  said  that 
the  death  of  the  Society's  faithful  and  very  wor- 
thy Missionary,  Mr.  Thompson  of  Scituate,  was 
owing  partly  to  bodily  disorder,  and  partly  to 
some   uncivil   treatment   from    the  rebels    in    his 


27 

neighborhood  ;  "  to  which  is  added,  "The  Parish 
are  earnestly  desirous  of  being  re-supplied  ; 
but  I  can  hardly  think  any  Gentleman  would 
undertake  the  Mission  in  these  troublesome 
times." 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Thompson's  death,  George 
III.  was  the  reigning  British  Sovereign.  His  reg- 
nal  years  (sixty)  exceeded  those  of  any  other 
sovereign  of  that  realm. 

The  going-down  of  the  sun  of  this  godly,  labo- 
rious, patient  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  over- 
shadowed by  the  dark  clouds  gathering  around 
the  relations  of  the  King  of  England,  and  of  the 
Church  in  that  realm,  to  the  Colonies  in  America. 
Of  the  King,  he  was  a  loyal  subject :  of  the 
Church,  he  was  a  devoted  minister. 


"  As  a  great  mountain  on  a  stormy  eve, 

After  a  stormy  day,  stands  dimly  shown,  — 
How  many  times  we  saw  the  gray  mist  weave 
A  murky  mantle  for  his  crest  of  stone  ! 

"  Now  a  brief  sunset-splendor  wraps  his  brow, 
A  crimson  glory  on  a  field  of  gold ; 
Yet  the  wild  tide  is  breaking  dark  below, 

Nor  from  its  shaggy  side  the  cloud  has  rolled,  — 

"  So  dim,  so  beautiful,  we  see  thy  form, 

Conqueror  and  saint,  man  sinning  and  forgiven, 
Around  thee  wrapt  earth's  shadows  and  its  storm, 
With  here  and  there  a  glimpse  of  purest  heaven. 


28 


But  the  morn  breaks,  -  .  morning  w|thout 
A  clear,  calm  shining,  when  the  rain  is  o'er 

He  heth  where  no  mist  of  earth  enshrouds,  ' 
In  God  s  great  sunlight  wrapped  for  evermore." 

"  He  is  both  dead  and  buried  ;  and  his  seonl 
chre  is  with  us  unto  this  day."     Yonder  P 

"Beneath  the  low  green  tent 
Whose  curtain  never  outward  swings," 

he,  with  "  the  desire  of  his  eve*  "  /Yl,    c  ■  Lf  i 
cherished  companion  of^Xj^'  and  s^ 
rows)    awaits   the   ge„eral    Resur^'n    •„  £ 
last  day.    On  one  of  the  stone*   m,  i  •        , 
where  they  rest,  we  r^T    '  "^  the  SPot 

"ERECTED   IN   MEMORY  OF  THE 

REVD.    EBENEZER    THOMPSON, 

WHO   DIED   NOV  ER   THE    20,  A.D.   I77  r 
™    YE   64   YEAR   OF   HIS   AGE. 

On  the  other  we  read,  — 

"IN   MEMORY  OF 

MRS.    ESTHER    THOMPSON 

J        Y   -7,    1S13,    IN   THE   99TH 
YEAR    OF    HER   AGE. 

"  I-  ^r  ,ife  and    I Le^rS'  J*0"*"*"'  -Ration. 


29 

Mr.  Thompson  was  the  son  of  Ebenezer 
Thompson,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and  was  born 
June  21,  1 7 12.  He  married  Esther  Stevens 
(born  May  17,  17 15),  of  New  Haven. 

He  was  brought  up  a  Congregationalist,  but, 
conforming  to  the  Church,  went  to  England 
for  Holy  Orders,  which,  after  passing  the  proper 
examination,  he  received. 

Mr.  Winslow,  who,  after  Mr.  Thompson's  death, 
served  the  Church  in  Scituate,  said,  concerning 
his  departed  brother  in  the  ministry,  "  No  Clergy- 
man of  the  Church  maintained  his  character  with 
more  dignity  and  fidelity. 

"  I  am  persuaded  it  was,  in  no  small  degree, 
owing  to  the  difficulties  he  had  to  struggle  with, 
from  the  rage  of  our  distracted  times,  that  the 
Church  was  deprived  of  so  exemplary  a  Minister, 
and  the  Venerable  Society  of  so  valuable  a  Servant 
and  Minister,  when,  to  human  appearance,  our 
hopes  seemed  to  be  encouraged  of  his  longer 
continuance." 

At  the  dying  request  of  Mr.  Thompson,  and, 
after  his  death,  at  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
Mission  in  Scituate,  the  Rev.  Edward  Winslow, 
the  Missionary  at  Braintree  (now  Christ  Church, 
Ouincy),  engaged  to  serve  the  Church  here, 
while  destitute,  as  frequently  as  he  could. 

In  the  course  he  had  appointed,  on  Sunday, 
June  9,  1776,  he  officiated  here  to  a  large  con- 
gregation, composed  of  the  members  of  the  two 


30 


united  Churches  of  Scituate  and  Marshfield  ;  and 
they  rejoiced  together  in  the  appearance  of  so 
many  persons  united  in  Christian  fellowship,  and 
m  affection  for  their  profession  of  the  faith  and 
for  the  national  constitution,  and  indulged  in  the 
pleasing  hope,  that,  through  the  methods  then 
pursued,  these  two  Churches  might  be  kept  to- 
gether and  strengthened,  notwithstanding  the 
disturbances  then  occurring. 

On  the  evening  of  this  Sunday,  Mr.  Winslow 
was  surprised  by  a  citation  to  appear  the  next 
morning  before  a  Committee  of  Safety,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  two  miles  from  this  spot,  to  answer  to  a 
charge  of  sowing  discord  and  dissension. 

Taking  with  him  one  of  the  Church-Wardens 
of  this  Parish,  he  attended  at  the  time  and  place 
appointed.  When  he  was  admitted  to  an  audi- 
ence with  the  Committee,  he  found  a  magistrate 
a  non-Episcopal  minister,  and  about  ten  or  twelve 
coadjutors  convened. 

The  magistrate,  having  a  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  recited  to  him  the  four  suffrages  in 
the  Litany,  and  then  the  two  prayers  in  both  the 
Morning  Prayer  and  the  Evening  Prayer  for  the 
Kings  Majesty  and  the  Royal  Family,  and  told 
him  that  all  they  had  to  allege  against  him  was 
the  using  of  those  suffrages  and  prayers  publicly 
in  the  Church  on  the  preceding  day,  asking  him 

whether  or  not  he  was  sincere  and  conscientious 
m  so  doing. 


Upon  his  answering  affirmatively,  the  magistrate 
said  that  such  a  practice,  at  that  time  of  open 
rupture  with  the  King  and  Parliament  of  England, 
was  full  evidence  that  Mr.  Winslow  was  inimical 
to  his  country,  and  that  his  officiating  in  the 
Church  here  served  to  promote  discord  and  divis- 
ions only. 

The  Committee,  finding  him  not  inclined  to 
submission,  adjudged  that  the  complaint  should 
be  referred  to  the  Braintree  Committee  of  Safety. 
Subsequently,  the  latter  Committee  resolved  to 
present  the  name  of  Mr.  Winslow  to  the  General 
Court  as  that  of  a  contumacious  fomenter  of 
alienation  from  the  United  Colonies,  and  an 
avowed  enemy  of  his  native  country,  and  it  was 
presented  ;  but  what  action,  if  any,  in  connection 
with  this  presentation,  was  taken  by  the  Court,  is 
not  known. 

On  the  ist  of  January,  1777,  Mr.  Winslow 
stated  that  at  Scituate,  Marshfield,  and  Bridge- 
water,  the  Churchmen  had  been  obliged  to  submit 
to  the  shutting-up  of  their  Churches,  which  he 
had  constantly  attended  until  the  month  of  June 
in  the  previous  year,  since  which  time  he  had  not 
been  able  to  visit  those  places  more  than  occa- 
sionally, to  administer  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism, 
and  to  perform  private  religious  offices. 

He  also  stated  that  the  people  of  those  Churches, 
particularly  those  of  Scituate  and  Marshfield,  with 
whom  chiefly,  since  Mr.  Thompson's  death,  he  had 


32 


been  conversant,  had  held  fast  their  profession 
without  wavering,  — unmoved,  from  their  adher- 
ence to  the  Church,  and  their  affection  for  the 
King  and  the  National  Constitution,  by  all  they 
had  either  suffered,  or  been  threatened  with. 

In  1754,  Mr.  Winslow,  as  the  Missionary  at 
Stratford,  Conn.,  of  the  Venerable  Society,  suc- 
ceeded the  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  D.D.,  who,  in 
1722,  was  Pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  West  Haven,  Conn.,  but  conformed  to  the 
Church  about  the  same  time  that  his  friend  the 
Rev.  Timothy  Cutler,  D.D.,  conformed. 

About  1764,  Mr.  Winslow  became  the  Vener- 
able Society's  Missionary  at  Braintree  (now 
Ouincy).     He  died  in  1780. 

"  However  we  may  rejoice  in  the  independence 
of  our  country,"  said  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  B 
Sprague,  "  it  is  due  to  historical  fidelity  to  state 
that  many  of  the  Episcopal  Clergy  who  remained 
loyal  to  the  British  Crown  were  subjected  to  a 
bitter  and  protracted  persecution,  which  it  is  im- 
possible, on  any  principle  of  enlightened  patriot- 
ism, to  justify." 

That  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
the  American  Colonies  should  have  remained 
loya  to  the  British  Crown  should  not  surprise  us  ■ 
for  they  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  its 
wearer,  sincerely  promising  and  swearing  that 
they  would  be  faithful,  and  bear  true  allegiance  to 
his  Majesty  the  King,  and  were  of  the  number 


33 

of  those  who  felt  that  "if  a  man  vow  a  vow 
unto  the  Lord,  or  swear  an  oath  to  bind  his  soul 
with  a  bond  ;  he  shall  not  break  his  word,  he 
shall  do  according  to  all  that  proceedeth  out  of 
his  mouth." 

That  there  is  nothing-  in  the  Church  unfriendly 
to  republican  institutions,  is  indicated  by  an  in- 
cident in  the  life  of  him  who  was  "  first  in  war, 
first  in  peace,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  country- 
men." 

"  Riding  along  with  his  suite  in  Westchester 
County,  New  York,  he  saw  a  house  of  worship 
shamefully  dilapidated,  —  the  Church  had  been 
riddled  by  musketry,  battered  with  all  sorts  of 
missiles,  its  windows,  chancel,  and  pews  torn  out, 
and  unmentionable  dishonors  imposed  upon  it,  — 
and  asked  why  that  building  was  so  abused. 

"  '  Because,  General,  that  is  a  Tory  Church,'  was 
the  reply  to  his  question.  He  rose  majestically 
in  his  stirrups,  and,  pointing  to  the  building,  ex- 
claimed, '  If  that  is  a  Tory  Church,  then  I  am  a 
Tory  also.' " 

The  Records  of  the  Parish,  both  as  to  spirituali- 
ties and  to  temporalities,  prior  to  1780,  disap- 
peared long  since,  and  are  believed  to  be  no 
longer  in  existence. 

The  first  entry  in  a  book  entitled  "  Records  of 
St.  Andrew's  Church,  in  Scituate,  in  New  Eng- 
land, Begun  in  August  1780,"  bearing  the  date 
of  Aug.  11,  1780,  is  a  copy  of  an  invitation  given 


34 

to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  of  Boston,  to  be  the 
Minister  of  the  Parish,  earnestly  desiring  him  to 
attend  upon,  and  preach  the  Word,  and  adminis- 
ter the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel  to  its  people, 
as  often  as  he  could,  consistently  wi\h  his  other 
ministerial  duties.  To  this  invitatio'i  the  names 
of  fifty  men,  members  of  the  Pa)  sh,  are  ap- 
pended. 

The  invitation  was  accepted,  the  relation  thus 
entered  into  continuing,  probably,  between  two 
and  three  years. 

On  the  27th  of  November,  1780,  it  was  voted 
to  give  Mr.  Parker,  in  consideration  of  officiating 
four  times  in  a  year  at  each  of  the  Churches  of 
St.  Andrew  (Scituate),  and  Trinity  (Marshfield), 
which  were  considered  as  one  collective  body  so 
far  as  related  to  the  services  of  a  Minister,  twenty- 
five  pounds  in  silver  money  yearly. 

The  Right  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  D.D.,  was 
brought  up  a  Congregationalist.  Having  con- 
formed to  the  Church,  he  went  to  England  for 
Episcopal  ordination,  and  on  the  24th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1774,  was  admitted  to  the  Order  of  Deacon 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Richard  Terrick,  D.D.,  Bishop 
of  London,  who,  three  days  after,  ordained  him 
Priest. 

Having  returned  to  Boston,  in  November  of 
that  year,  he  entered  upon  his  duties  as  Assist- 
ant Minister  of  Trinity  Church,  in  that  city :  in 
June,  1779,  he  became  its  Rector. 


35 

In  1789  he  was  honored  by  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Di- 
vinity. 

Upon  the  death  of  Bishop  Bass,  which  occurred 
Sept.  10,  1803,  he,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1804,  was 
elected  Bishop  of  Massachusetts. 

He  was,  on  the  16th  of  September  in  that 
year,  ordained  or  consecrated  to  the  Work  and 
Ministry  of  a  Bishop,  but  was  not  permitted  to 
discharge  the  distinctive  duties  of  his  hio-h  office  ; 
for,  almost  immediately  after,  he  was  prostrated 
by  disease,  which  ended  his  earthly  life  on  the 
6th  of  December,  1804,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
nine. 

The  last  Minister  of  the  Parish,  while  it  wor- 
shipped in  the  Church-edifice  on  this  spot,  was 
the  Rev.  William  Willard  Wheeler. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  1783,  he  was  chosen  Rector 
of  St.  Andrew's  Church  (Scituate),  and  Trinity 
Church   (Marshfield). 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Convention  of  the  Dio- 
cese of  Massachusetts,  for  1785,  he  is  recorded 
as  Rector  of  the  united  Churches  at  Scituate, 
Marshfield,  Braintree,  and  Bridgewater.  In  that 
for  1790,  he  is  designated  as  Rector  of  St. 
Thomas's  Church,  Taunton,  as  wrell  as  of  the 
two  Churches  in  Scituate  and  Marshfield. 

During  his  ministry  here  of  about  twenty-six 
years,  he  administered  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism 
to  eighty-four  persons,  and  united  in  Holy  Matri- 


36 

mony  twenty-two  couples.  As  to  the  number  of 
Communicants,  and  the  number  of  Burials  at 
which  he  officiated,  we  have  no  information.  It 
was  characterized  by  amiability,  sincerity,  unself- 
ishness, and  conscientious  fidelity  in  the  discharge 
of  its  duties. 

He  departed  this  life  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1 8 10,  having  reached  the  age  of  seventy- five 
years. 

My  venerable  friend  and  parishioner,  Mr. 
Luther  Howland,  on  my  right  hand,  has  (as  an- 
other esteemed  friend  and  parishioner,  Capt. 
Nathaniel  Barstow,  unable  to  be  here  present, 
has)  a  distinct  remembrance  of  the  funeral  of  Mr. 
Wheeler,  and  states  that  on  that  occasion  the 
Burial  Office  was  read  by  the  Rev.  John  Sylves- 
ter John  Gardiner  (afterwards  D.D.),  Rector  of 
Trinity  Church,  Boston,  who  also  preached  a 
sermon  from  the  words,  "  Your  fathers,  where  are 
they  ?  and  the  prophets,  do  they  live  forever  ?  " 
(Zech.  1.5). 

"  Thy  own  loved  Church  in  sadness  read 
Her  solemn  ritual  o'er  thy  head, 
And  blessed  and  hallowed  with  her  prayer 
The  turf  laid  lightly  o'er  thee  there,  — 
That  Church,  whose  rites  and  liturgy, 
Sublime  and  old,  were  truth  to  thee, 
Undoubted  to  thy  bosom  taken 
As  symbols  of  a  faith  unshaken." 


37 

Mr.  Wheeler  married  Jane,  a  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Thompson,  one  of  his  pre-Revo- 
lutionary  predecessors  in  the  work  of  the  ministry 
in  this  Parish. 

There  they  closely  lie  on  their  narrow  couches, 
beneath  the  sods,  "  resting  in  God." 

"  Of  other  words  what  need  ? 
These  span  the  broad  eternal  shore. 


From  every  troubled  thought  apart, 
Forgotten  every  earthly  pain. 

"  Sleep  on  :  your  long  repose  is  sweet ; 
Tender  and  cool,  the  grassy  sod. 
O  traveller,  stay  thy  hurrying  feet  ! 
Step  softly  there  — '  they  rest  in  God.'  " 

• 
The  stones,  marking  their  resting-places,  bear 

the  following  inscriptions  :  — 

"consecrated  to  the  memory  of 

REV.    WILLIAM     WHEELER, 

rector  of  the  episcopalian  church,  in  scituate. 

DtcU 

Jan.  14,  1S10,  jet.  75  years. 


"  What  though  the  gloomy  tyrant  Death 
Doth  God's  own  house  invade, 
What  though  the  pastor  and  the  priest 
Be  numbered  with  the  dead,       • 
The  eternal  Shepherd  still  survives, 
New  comfort  to  impart. 
His  hand  still  guides  us,  and  his  voice 
Still  animates  our  heart  " 


38 

"erected  in  memory  of 
MRS.     JANE     WHEELER, 

RELICT   OF  THE   REV.  WILLIAM   W.  WHEELER,   FORMERLY   RECTOR 
OF  ST.   ANDREW'S   CHURCH,   IN   SCITUATE. 

©tCtl 

July  30,  182 1,  aged  64  years. 


"  No  pain,  no  grief,  no  anxious  fear, 
Can  reach  the  peaceful  sleeper  here." 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  a  son  of  William  Wheeler, 
and  was  born  in  Concord,  Mass.,  Dec.  24,  1734. 

He  was  recommended  to  the  Venerable  Society 
by  the  Clergy  of  the  Convention  assembled  in 
Boston,  June  17,  1767.  In  the  latter  part  of  that 
year,  he  went  to  England  for  Holy  Orders ;  and 
having  accomplished  his  object,  and  been  desig- 
nated by  the  Society  as  the  Missionary  for  George- 
town (which  then  included  all  the  territory  within 
the  present  limits  of  Bath,  Woolwich,  and  Phips- 
burg),  Me.,  he  returned  to  this  country  in  May, 
1768.  He  remained  at  Georgetown  till  April, 
1772,  when  he  went  to  Newport,  R.I.,  as  Assistant 
to  the  Rev.  George  Bissett,  Rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  in  that  Town. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Parish,  held  April  24,  18 10, 
it  was  voted,  "  that  the  Society  are  willing  to 
attend  public  worship  in  Hanover,  provided  indi- 
viduals  will  build  a  new  church   in   said   Hano- 

>> 
ver. 

A  Church  for  the  use  of  the  Parish  having  been 


39 

erected  in  the  adjacent  Town  of  Hanover,  and 
been  consecrated  by  the  Right  Rev.  Alexander 
Viets  Griswold,  D.D.,  June  n,  1811,  services  in 
the  orioinal  Church  were  discontinued.  Subse- 
quently  it  was  sold,  and  taken  down. 

The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts,  now  in  the  one  hundred  and 
eighty-second  year  of  its  existence,  to  which  we 
are  indebted  for  our  foundation  as  a  Parish,  and 
for  a  long  continuance  of  nursing  care  and  protec- 
tion, is  the  oldest  Missionary  Society  in  the  world, 
having  been  instituted  under  a  Charter  granted 
June  16,  1701,  by  King  William  the  Third. 

It  is  a  river  the  streams  whereof  have  made 
glad  the  city  of  God.  By  the  labors  and  ministry 
of  its  Missionaries,  a  great  flock  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  has  been  gathered  together. 

For  all  its  benefits  toward  us,  our  hearts  should 
be  unfeignedly  thankful. 

The  Holy  Bible,  printed  in  1723,  from  which 
the  Lesson  for  this  Service  was  read,  and  which 
is  always  used  in  reading  the  Lessons  in  Divine 
Service  in  the  Parish  Church,  was  the  o-ift  of  this 
Venerable  Society  to  this  Parish,  and  came  over 
probably  about  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the 
Church  on  this  Hill  of  the  Lord. 

On  one  of  its  leaves  is  a  printed  cut,  represent- 
ing the  Seal  of  the  Society.  Beneath  are  the 
words,  "  The  Gift  of  the  Society  for  propagating 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  parts." 


40 

On  one  of  its  covers  are  the  words,  in  gilt 
letters,  "  St.  Andrew's  Church."  The  curiously 
carved  box  on  which  it  now  rests,  is  that  in  which 
it  was  brought  from  England. 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  which  came 
with  the  Holy  Bible,  is  not  in  the  possession  of 
the  Parish.     What  became  of  it  is  not  known. 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  used  in  conduct- 
ing- the  liturgical  services  on  this  occasion,  and 
which  is  always  used  in  the  Parish  Church  in  the 
Celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion,  bears  on  its 
title-page  the  imprint,  "  New  York:  By  Direction  of 
the  General  Convention,  Printed  By  Hugh  Gaine, 
At  the  Bible,  Hanover  Square.     MDCCXCV." 

Of  the  eight  Clergymen  who  ministered  to  the 
Church  people  in  Scituate  (the  Indian  name  was 
Satuit,  from  Satuit  Brook,  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  Town),  seven  —  Cutler,  Miller,  Davenport, 
Brockwell,  Thompson,  Winslow,  and  Wheeler  — 
were  sent  forth  as  Missionaries  by  the  Venerable 
Society. 

The  following  statement  as  to  the  dates  of 
their  ministerial  service  is  approximately  correct : 
Timothy  Cutler,  1 725-1 730;  Ebenezer  Miller, 
1730-1735?  Addington  Davenport,  i735~I737  ; 
Charles  Brockwell,  1737;  Ebenezer  Thomp- 
son, 1 762-1 775;  Edward  Winslow,  1 775-1 776; 
Samuel  Parker,  1 780-1 783  ;  and  William  Willard 
Wheeler,  1783-18 10. 

Of    these    eight,    four — Cutler,     Davenport, 


4* 

Thompson,. and  Parker  —  received  their  religious 
training-  among  the  Congregationalists. 

"  And  what  shall  I  more  say  ?  for  the  time 
would  fail  me  to  tell  of"  the  lessons  which  maybe 
learned  from  the  history  of  this  branch  of  God's 
planting,  the  work  of  His  hands. 

This  is  no  disadvantage  ;  for  the  narrative  it- 
self, without  note  or  comment,  teaches  the  lessons 
produced  by  its  facts  with  such  clearness  and  dis- 
tinctness, that  they  may  be  known  and  read  of 
all  men. 

How  can  it  better  end  than  with  the  grateful, 
trusting  words,  "The  Lord  our  God  be  with  us, 
as  He  was  with  our  fathers  :  let  Him  not  leave  us, 
nor  forsake  us  :  that  He  may  incline  our  hearts 
unto  Him,  to  walk  in  all  His  ways,  and  to  keep 
His  commandments." 

And  now,  before  we  depart  from  this  hallowed 
place,  we  take  a  tender  and  affectionate  look  at 
the  green  mounds,  beneath  which  our  spiritual 
fathers,  and  our  brethren  in  the  household  of  faith, 
are  sleeping  in  the  Lord,  "  where  no  troubles 
distraction  can  bring." 

"  Hark  !  how  the  sacred  calm  that  breathes  around 
Bids  every  fierce  tumultuous  passion  cease, 
In  still  small  accents  whispering  from  the  ground 
A  grateful  earnest  of  eternal  peace. 

"  No  further  seek  their  merits  to  disclose, 
Or  draw  their  frailties  from  their  dread  abode, 
(There  they  alike  in  trembling  hope  repose), 
The  bosom  of  their  Father  and  their  God." 


42 

With  the  upward-turned  ear  of  faith,  may  we 
not  hear  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying-  to  all  con- 
nected with  this  ancient  Parish,  concerning  their 
fathers  and  brethren  resting  in  this  Hill  of  the 
Lord?  — 

"Remember  them  which  have"  had  "the 
rule  over  you,  who  have  spoken  unto  you  the 
word  of  god,  whose  faith  follow,  considering 
the  end  of  their  conversation." 

"  be  not  slothful,  but  followers  of  them 
who  through  faith  and  patience  inherit  the 
promises." 


\ 


I 


St.  mnbrcw's  <%ird),  Qonoucr, 

jJlomoull,  Kounto,  ifl.issarljusttis. 


a.D.  i72s-t8r». 


X 


"  l'^J  8^llinMt1^  ^forever,  the  hvaru-h  of  My 
Planting,  the  work  of   Hu  hand*    thm    i  , 

.'     i.i  nanas,  that   I  may  be  glorified." 

Isaiah  60:  21. 

As  in  Egyptian  cerements,  dank  and  cold, 
The  grain  of  wheat  Ion-  ages  can  survive 
And  newly  planted  in  fresh  earth  wiU  live 

To  thrust  its  bearded  stalk   from  virgin  mould 
So,  m  this  rigid  soil,  our  Church  of  old 
A  century  slumbered,  but  Faith's  vital  seed 
Kept  life  in  death:  and  in   its  hour  of  need 
rhe  Heavenly  Shepherd  watched  His  feeble  fold, 
Nor  ait,  nor  violence  of  bigot  foes 

Could  check  the  pious  hope  thai  winged  . I,,  soul 
1,11  m  haven's  face  this  decent  temple  rose 
And  on  God's  altar  flamed  its  living  coal.  ' 
■'-till  the  good  pastor  fans  the  fervid  ul,,u 
U\  from  that  spark,  how  many  a  year  ago  ■ 


Sritttatr,  fflass., 
Easter-Tide,  A.I).  1878. 


George  Lunt. 


) 


/ 


V     ft! 


PHOTOMOUNT 
PAMPHLET  BINDER 

Manufactured  ty 

eAYLORD  BROS.  Inc. 
Sy«cm»,  N.  Y. 
Stockton,  Calif. 


